This invention relates to safety razor wet shaving systems and particularly to blade cartridges for such systems.
One of the more significant changes in safety razor systems in recent years has been the increasing use of cartridges containing razor blades, rather than of razor blades alone, as the insertable and disposable unit for razors. The typical cartridge forms some elements of the blade holding assembly, often including the guard and cap for the blade. The blade is mounted in the cartridge by the manufacturer, allowing it to fix the geometric relationship between the blade and guard correctly, precisely, and permanently. This is an especially useful feature for those arrangements in which two spaced apart blades are secured in the cartridge with their cutting edges in parallel. The correct relation between the blades would be difficult to achieve if the blades themselves had to be inserted by the user.
Also, the cartridges provide a firm support for the blades. This allows the use of material for the blades that is thinner and narrower than when the blades themselves had to be handled by the user. Extremely narrow blades which cannot be safely handled by a user may be set into a cartridge by automatic machinery. Blades that are too thin to be handled by a user without damage to the blades may likewise be secured to supporting structure in a cartridge by automatic machinery. Once secured to supporting structure, the thin blades are as sturdy as thicker ones.
Some of the drawbacks of a blade cartridge are the additional manufacturing steps necessary to assemble a multipiece cartridge, and the problem the user has with cleaning the blade. There has always been a need to remove the debris collected on and around the blade edge during shaving. This need has become more acute as newer long-lasting blades have been developed in recent years. The amount of time in which debris can accumulate has increased as the time of use of the same blade has increased. The use of twin blade systems has also contributed to this need. The peripheral structure associated with a blade cartridge, however, often interferes with rinsing and cleaning a blade adequately. Sometimes this leads to the imposition of even more structure on the cartridge to aid in cleaning it.
Accordingly, it is a purpose of this invention to provide a new and more useful blade cartridge. Particular important objects are to provide a blade cartridge that is simple, easy and inexpensive to manufacture and that is lightweight and unobtrusive to use. It is another important object of the invention to provide a cartridge that minimizes the accumulation of debris about the blade edge and allows adequate flushing of any debris that does accumulate. Another object of the invention is to provide a cartridge that may be easily adapted for the manufacture of single blade as well as twin blade, and single edge as well as double edge, blade cartridges.